Chapter 28
THE AGENT
CHLOE
Three Months Later
By the time Dante approved full renovation plans for all of his complexes, there wasn’t a resident willing to go on camera and oppose the idea of him buying The Holden.
He still had his fair share of detractors—mainly the people in the Sweet Seasons meetup group who kicked me out for being a “fucking traitor”—but their voices were drowned out by the results of his work.
And maybe I was biased by our numerous daily rounds of sex, but I swore he wasn’t being “ruthless” these days at all.
He was being nice…
“You’re talking to yourself again.” He moved behind me, tugging at my blindfold. “I’ve only asked you to stand here for five minutes.”
“It’s been way longer than that, Dante,” I said. “Maybe I wanted to make sure I wasn’t alone.”
“Noted.” He pressed a kiss against the shell of my ear. “You didn’t take any peeks, did you?”
“No.” I assured him. “I’ve been standing in this same spot since I came over, waiting for you to reveal your secret BDSM dungeon.”
He laughed again, pressing an even harder kiss against my neck.
“If I had one, I would’ve used that to punish you the first day we met,” he said. “I needed to move this so you could give me your honest opinion.”
“What is ‘this’ exactly?”
He untied my blindfold, pulling it away from my face.
As the fabric gave way, I noticed a lifelike model of The Holden standing in front of me.
Like Dante had pulled it straight from the version of New York people swore no longer existed, the plaza resembled a mini town with a sprawling park, multiple places for locals to gather, and a design that didn’t scream “Only for the rich.”
Despite being made entirely of carved wood pieces, the model looked impossibly lifelike.
“Who the hell did this?” I asked.
“Tell me if you like it first.”
“I love it.” I nodded. “Without knowing all the details, you’ll get a yes on this in a heartbeat.”
“Because of the design or because I’m becoming more likable?”
“It’s a combination of both, but more of the latter.” I walked around to the other side, running my fingers along the row of trees that lined the rooftop. “Why did you want to buy this place so badly?”
“What do you mean?”
“There are tons of other abandoned buildings that wouldn’t come with anywhere near the resistance as this one did…”
“I’m sure.” He moved closer and picked up one of the benches. “But none of them are what I promised my mother…”
Silence settled between us for several seconds.
“I told her I’d make The Holden more than the memory of where we used to squat for months,” he said. “It’s where my dad got arrested and sent away for just trying to get us some shelter.”
“Are they still around?” I asked. “Have you told them?”
“If it gets approved, I’ll tell them when I visit their graves,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be quite happy about it.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be,” he said. “They got to see me become a billionaire and crush everyone who ever hurt us.”
“By chance, does that include the cop who arrested your dad?”
“Of course not.” He smiled. “I would never blacklist him from every agency in this city so hard he had to move elsewhere.”
“I’m sorry for ever starting to think that your ruthless reputation was overblown.”
“You’re forgiven.” He laughed, pulling me against his chest. “We can finish this discussion later, though. You owe me another PR plan for next month, and we also have some unfinished business from last night.”
“I’ll work on the PR plan first then,” I said. “That’s more important than more sex with you.”
“I agree, Chloe.” His mouth crashing against mine made it clear that he didn’t.